Northern Abalone Case Study for the Determination of SARA Critical Habitat

Résumé du livre

Critical habitat refers to habitat that is necessary for the survival or recovery of a listed wildlife species. This report presents initial efforts to initiate critical habitat designation, in the context of the Species at Risk Act (SARA), for northern abalone (Haliotis kamtschatkana) in British Columbia. The report first reviews the research literature on abalone life history & ecology, habitat, geographic distribution, population size & trends, and threats to the abalone population. It then uses an abalone habitat availability model to estimate total potential habitat suitable for abalone over selected areas of the British Columbia coast and model potential abalone larval dispersal to determine dispersal characteristics and the likely scale of source & sink populations. Gaps in knowledge about the species are discussed and recommendations are made for further research.